Seven Avoidable Packing Mistakes

When it comes to moving, specifically the act of packing, we all make mistakes. The experience of gathering your things up into a living room sized pile and into boxes is an art, and we’ve learned from plenty of mistakes ourselves. So for your next move, skip these commonly made mistakes by reading these helpful tips before you end up in the depths of a post move blunder.

Not enough supplies

You can never have too many boxes. There’s really no way of telling how much stuff you have until you’ve gone through the process of packing it all up.

Generally speaking, you’ll need around two full-sized cardboard boxes per person, and five to ten for all that stuff in the house. It’ll take more than just your spare totes and some boxes salvaged from the recycling of a local retailer.

A helpful tip: most companies offer bundles of cardboard boxes for cheap and liquor stores often offer them for free.

Disorganized Packing

The temptation of packing your things quickly might seem like the shortest destination to getting it all done, but there’s nothing worse than spending weeks looking for the spatula you just packed with your winter coats.

All jokes aside, keep your belongings grouped and labelled. Categorization can shave days off the arduous task of getting everything back in its right place.

Keeping the Junk

You don’t need to wait till spring cleaning to get rid of all those old textbooks you never returned. This moving season, take a long hard look at what you need in your new living space versus what’s merely coming along for the ride. It’s human nature to want to hold on to all your belongings. Consider this to be an opportunity to clear out your closets and lighten the load.

Breaking the Breakables

Wine glasses, keepsakes, and electronics can be difficult to move safely without the proper packaging.  This is one of many reasons to hire a professional mover.

Consider picking up some dish barrels to ensure the load doesn’t have space to shift around. Packing paper is a great purchase if you don’t want to wash the newsprint off your items. Most importantly, make sure you label boxes clearly so others know not to manhandle the goods.

Scratched Furniture

Furniture is more likely to be damaged by a hasty delivery than it is sitting in your house. This is the reason why most furniture companies offer delivery services for goods. Hiring a trusted mover can alleviate much of the risks involved with transporting your sleepables and sitables.

We recommend wrapping your furniture with padded blanket and using plastic wrap to cover hard surfaces such as tabletops. If you plan on taking apart the protruding legs of a dinner table or the risers off a sofa, remember to keep the screws, nuts and washers in a labelled Ziploc.

Not having an Essentials Box

When you’re in the thick of moving, you might not have time to get your toothbrush out till days later. Here’s a short list of things you’ll definitely need at arm’s-reach during the height of your transition:

• Toilet paper
• Flashlight
• Garbage bags
• Two days of street wear
• Toothbrush (and paste)
• Band-aids (or first aid kit if you have one)
• Snacks

As well, consider having a bottle of Aspirin at hand if things get particularly stressful. Remember that not all essentials boxes are the same, you might have some personal effects that you can’t live without. Let us know in the comments what you would put in yours.

Doing it by Yourself

As the poet, John Donne once said “No man is an island” well, here at Hendra Moving, we feel that no mover is an island. Going it alone may seem like the most charitable choice, nobody wants to call their friend with the truck no more than they want to ask their parents for a helping hand. The truth is, moving out by yourself is a colossal undertaking that can cause stress. Hiring the help of professional movers can save time, getting your friends to help you wrap the glassware can make the piecemeal work less stressful, and getting your parents to cook you a home-cooked meal in your new home can get you off on the right foot.